Drag racing at Santa Pod

[alfa daley]

Had a great day on Saturday at Santa Pod at the RWYB session seeing what the R1 could do and getting my butt kicked by 300bhp Hayabusas. If any of you guys haven't been I recommend a trip, all kinds of exotic bikes and cars to ogle - I saw a V8 Mini run a 9 second quarter mile with a terminal speed of 141mph . Or how about the two Top Fuel bikes, one of them posting in the 6 second mark!

Sod's law had to happen, did one run and then my throttle cable came loose. Eternal gratitude to one of the other friendly bikers who held the tank up for what must have seemed like (and probably was) an eternity, whilst I swore a lot and wielded a combo of screw drivers and allen keys to fix the problem.

So do any of you guys go to the RWYBs? Has anyone else ran an R1? Best run of the day was 10.5@133. Has anyone got any technique tips as I found it pretty hard to get consistent launches, either bog down time or truly butt clenching wheelie action?

[CPC]

Sounds excellent fun!

Im going in a few weeks for my first time ( on a bike that is!) and im also looking for tips on the launch. IE revs/tyre pressures etc

im only riding a bog standard zx6r

[alfa daley]

I'm not sure about tyre pressures as I didn't bother changing mine. Some people were really going for it with the pre run burn outs, I felt a bit of a spoil sport by not doing them but sod it - I had just bought new tyres and that crippled the wallet pretty badly so no burn outs for me.

[Caruso]

alfa daley said:

So do any of you guys go to the RWYBs? Has anyone else ran an R1? Best run of the day was 10.5@133. Has anyone got any technique tips as I found it pretty hard to get consistent launches, either bog down time or truly butt clenching wheelie action?

I had the same problem with launches. Many of my times were over 12 secs, but every now and then I'd hook it up right and bang in an 11.2 - this was on my SuperBlackbird. I can only think that practice makes perfect...if your clutch can stand it!

[Dakkon]

Never dragged a bike, but I have done so many times in cars.

Try to get on the right side of the track, they glue this side more frequently on RWYB days for the top fuel dragsters practicing.

Otherwise it is just practice to find the right revs to lauch at, the tarmac is not quite the same as what is on the road, so grip is different, so the revs your used to using from the lights will not be right for the drag strip.

A decent sticky back tyre will do wonders for your times as well.

[Jezza 2 Fast]

RWYB are good value for money and a real easy way to have fun on a bike, here I am on the K1200 R